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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26835895">Not Alone</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alberta_Sunrise/pseuds/Alberta_Sunrise'>Alberta_Sunrise</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Prospect (2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blood and Injury, Major Character Injury</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 12:13:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,277</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26835895</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alberta_Sunrise/pseuds/Alberta_Sunrise</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>‘So now that I have awoken what do you plan to do?’ he asked, changing the subject.<br/>‘We find our next job.’ she stated, her face devoid of any emotion which made her impossible to read.<br/>‘We?’ he questioned as he moved his head in order to look at her better.<br/>‘We.’ she replied</p><p>§</p><p>My take on happened after they escaped the Green.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>53</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Not Alone</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>After finishing this movie I wondered what happened to them. Whether Ezra survived and if they stayed together after he recovered. Hope you enjoy my take.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The ship edged closer and closer and Cee allowed herself to smile, they were going to be okay. Her ears picked up labored breathing beside her and she turned her head to see Ezra looking at her, his lips parted slightly as he struggled to suck in a breath. His lids were growing heavy, his skin pale as a thin layer of sweat formed. She could see him slipping.</p><p> </p><p>‘We’re almost there.’ she said as she tapped his cheek.</p><p> </p><p>Her touch pulled him back a little and his dark brown eyes opened wide as he tried to stay awake, the pain getting a little too much to bear.</p><p> </p><p>‘Why did you come back for me?’ he questioned, voice strained as he held her gaze.</p><p> </p><p>‘I couldn’t leave you behind.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Even after all the sorrow I’ve caused you?’ he quizzed, his pain evident on his face.</p><p> </p><p>Cee said nothing, her eyes drifting to his stump and then to the station they were approaching. She felt a pang of guilt for the man's current state. It was because of her that he’d lost his arm and if he still had them both he would have been able to harvest the gems and he wouldn’t have been stabbed. There was a loud bang as the ship made contact with the station, followed by the sounds of the docking equipment locking the ship into place.</p><p> </p><p>‘We’re here!’ she said as she unbuckled her belt and looked over to him.</p><p> </p><p>He was weakly tried to unfasten himself but failing miserably. Tears fell freely down his cheeks as he tried to breathe through the pain, pained moans escaping his lips as he looked to Cee for help. She leaped to his side and helped him out of his seat and to his feet, holding him steady as he wavered. She helped him over to one of the bunks towards the rear of the pod, holding his head as he laid down and then lowered it gently onto the pillow.</p><p> </p><p>‘I am going to go get help.’ she said as she sprinted to the door.</p><p> </p><p>‘Well I won’t be going anywhere.’ he jested as he gave her a weak smile.</p><p> </p><p>Cee gave him a brief nod and then pushed open the door and disappeared into the dark hallway. He watched her leave and when he was sure she was gone he allowed his emotions to pour out of him, tears leaking from his tired eyes as his breathing quickened. He didn’t want to die but he knew his chances weren’t good.</p><p> </p><p>§</p><p> </p><p>Cee returned a little while later with a bag full of medicines, a sour expression across her features as she pulled open the door and slunk back inside. Ezra was still lying where she’d left him, his eyes shut but his labored breathing alerting her to his still being with her. She walked briskly to his side, dropping to her knees and rummaged around in her bag for the medicine she’d acquired.</p><p> </p><p>‘No doctors?’ he asked, his eyes cracking open as he felt her lift his shirt.</p><p> </p><p>Cee said nothing. She grabbed a syringe and stabbed the needle into his arm which elicited a pained moan from the man. She then pulled out some wipes and started to clean it, wincing at the sight of the jagged bloody flesh. Happy with her work she pulled out a bag and using a scrap of material she tied to one of the metal beams on the ceiling. She then pulled out a long tube with a needle at one end and pushed the needle into a vein on the top of his hand before taping it in place and connecting the other end to the bag.</p><p> </p><p>‘Whats that?’ he asked weakly as he watched her work.</p><p> </p><p>‘Antibiotics.’ she said plainly, perching herself on the other bunk opposite his.</p><p> </p><p>‘Thank you.’ he said weakly as he gave her a small smile.</p><p> </p><p>‘You’re welcome.’ she said as she relaxed her shoulders and smiled back at him.</p><p> </p><p>‘I still don’t understand why you are helping me.’ he said as he panted ‘I have caused you so much pain.’</p><p> </p><p>‘You are also all I have now.’ she interrupted as she looked at him with a stone expression. </p><p> </p><p>Ezra kept quiet then, taken aback by her statement but finding himself touched by it also. He could feel the painkillers she’d injected him with starting to work and his muscles relaxed, his eyes growing heavy.</p><p> </p><p>‘Get some sleep.’ she said as she laid down on her own cot and pulled out one of the bars of food they’d scavenged from the tent.</p><p> </p><p>‘You don’t have to tell me twice.’ he joked as his eyes drifted shut.</p><p> </p><p>She laid there and listened to his labored breathing, watching the shaky rise and fall of his bare chest. She hopped to her feet and grabbed a blanket from the cupboard beside her bed, pulling it over him and hiding his grim wound beneath the green material. She felt her own exhaustion getting the better of her and she sunk back down onto her own bunk and pulled her blanket over her thin shoulders. She was woken up by the sound of Ezra gasping and groaning, his eyes rolling around in their sockets as a fever ravaged his body. Cee jumped to his side, pressing her hand to his brow and hissing at the heat that radiated from his skin. He looked right at her but his eyes were glassy and there was no recognition in them. She sprinted to the door, pushing it roughly and jumping through the awkward entrance into the hall. She knew that Ezra needed a doctor or he wasn’t going to make it, and that wasn’t something she was going to let happen.</p><p> </p><p>§</p><p> </p><p>When she’d returned to the pod the medical staff and they had quickly shifted Ezra onto a stretcher and carefully carried him out of the pod and to the medical facility aboard the station. It was bright and clean which stood out in stark contrast compared to the dingy graffitied halls that Cee had experienced until this point. They had placed the injured man onto a bed, one person placing a mask over his face as another inspected his injuries.</p><p> </p><p>‘What happened to him?’ the doctor asked as he looked Ezra over.</p><p> </p><p>‘I had to cut off his arm because it was infected and it was killing him.’ she started as she stood in the corner and watched them as they worked ‘he then got stabbed trying to save me from a crazed merc.’ she finished as she sniffed and wiped away a fresh tear.</p><p> </p><p>‘Shit he’s lucky he’s lasted this long.’ one said as another walked to her side.</p><p> </p><p>‘We’ll do all we can for him but you need to leave.’ they said as they placed a comforting hand on her shoulder ‘we’ll contact you when we’re done.’</p><p> </p><p>Cee nodded, allowing the man to guide her out of the door and into the dim hall beyond. She made her way back to the pod, sitting on her bunk and proceeding to stare at his empty one. She thought about all that had happened. Her father’s death and the incidents after that. She thought about how just a few days prior she had hated Ezra and now she felt herself praying for him to recover and not knowing what she’d do if he didn’t. She sat there for hours awaiting the message to say she could go and see him. When that message had come through she’d made her way back to the medical facility and was shown to a separate room that was lined with beds down either side. Ezra was in the far right corner of the room, old equipment sat either side of the bed, blaring out different sounds that meant differing things. </p><p> </p><p>‘He’s stable but the infection is aggressive.’ the Doctor stated as they came to a stop at his bedside ‘I’m afraid his chances aren’t great.’</p><p> </p><p>Cee didn’t reply, just stared at the prone form on the bed. Tubes stuck out everywhere but the one down his throat was the one that took her most by surprise. She’d never seen someone in a hospital before and so all the equipment was alien to her.</p><p> </p><p>‘I’ve just realised who you are.’ said the doctor which grabbed her attention ‘how is your father doing? He’ll probably want more sleep aids soon.’</p><p> </p><p>‘My father is dead.’ she said plainly, her lack of emotion taking the doctor by surprise.</p><p> </p><p>‘I’m sorry.’ he stuttered before turning and leaving.</p><p> </p><p>She grabbed a chair and pulled it up to the side of Ezra’s bed. Climbing onto it and hugging her knees as she watched him, the sound of air whooshing followed by a soft click filled her ears and she realised what it was. It was a machine that was breathing for him. She could feel her emotions bubbling just below the surface and she fought hard to keep them in check. Pulling her headphones over her ears she sat there and watched him. She wouldn't leave his side, he was all she had now and she had to make sure he lived. The days blurred into weeks as Erza remained in his coma and showed no signs of waking. Cee had told herself that it was a healing sleep. That he was resting like she’d told him to and that he’d wake up soon and return to his usual chatty self.</p><p> </p><p>§</p><p> </p><p>Another few weeks passed and Ezra started to make slow but steady progress. He was able to breathe on his own but the infection continued to ravage him, not spreading but not dissipating either and so he lay there shivering under the thin sheets of the medical bay. The doctors came and went but they were starting to become a little more optimistic of his chances, all of them impressed he’d made it this long. Cee sat at his side every day. She either read to him or she would sit and write her book in the hope that eventually she could read it to him when he woke up. She watched him as he continued to sleep, his eyes dancing beneath his lids, and his teeth chattering as his body shook.</p><p> </p><p>‘Come on lazy don’t you think you’ve slept enough?’ She joked as she scribbled away in her book.</p><p> </p><p>‘Well why don’t you get stuck by a blade and see how long it takes for you to get over it.’ said a weak voice which made Cee jump in her seat.</p><p> </p><p>‘Ezra, you awake?’</p><p> </p><p>‘Mhmm.’ he nodded weakly as he squeezed his eyes tightly and then opened them, squinting as the light burned his sensitive retinas.</p><p> </p><p>‘About time.’ she said with a smile as she stood over him.</p><p> </p><p>‘How long have I been here?’ he asked as his eyes came to rest on her, finally adjusted to the white light of the medical bay.</p><p> </p><p>‘A little under a month.’ she stated as she sat herself back down again ‘Doctor said you were in something called a coma.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Is that right?’ He replied, watching her as she opened her book and starting to write again ‘and you’ve been here the whole time?’</p><p> </p><p>‘Yeap.’</p><p> </p><p>Ezra blinked at her, watching the pen dance on the page she wrote on. He still wasn’t quite sure why she hadn’t just left him there to die in the green but he was grateful, the fear he’d felt as he laid there and waited for death to come was not something he wanted to experience again.</p><p> </p><p>‘So now that I have awoken what do you plan to do?’ he asked, changing the subject.</p><p> </p><p>‘We find our next job.’ she stated, her face devoid of any emotion which made her impossible to read.</p><p> </p><p>‘We?’ he questioned as he moved his head to look at her better.</p><p> </p><p>‘We.’ she replied, her eyes locking with his as she gave him a curt nod.</p><p> </p><p>‘Why we?’ Ezra gave her a bemused expression.</p><p> </p><p>‘Well you have nowhere to go and I’m a kid.’ she started, eyes still focused on what she was writing ‘Makes sense for us to continue working together. Besides you only have one arm now so you need all the help you can get.’</p><p> </p><p>Ezra’s eyes drifted down to his stump, a small tear developing in the corner of his eye as he remembered the procedure. His emotions had spilled out of him like a damn with a crack as he listened to her cut at flesh and bone, the crack when she made her way through and it came free. He had felt himself becoming more attached to her after that, a part of him wanting to protect her as if she was his own flesh and blood. So when he’d been wounded by the mercenary and he lay there bleeding out as the dust settled on his exposed flesh all he had cared about was her escape. It had been the most selfless he’d even been, urging her to leave him and save herself as he struggled to accept that he was dying. When she had returned for him though his heart had warmed at the sight of her, happy that she hadn’t chosen to leave him behind. He had hoped that he would survive and that he would be able to stay with her, to protect her but in reality, he knew he needed her more than she needed him. He said nothing more, feeling himself growing tired again he chose to sleep and wait to talk about the future. He drifted off knowing he wouldn’t be alone and neither would she.</p>
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